The Color of Your Dreams
by KawaiiEyeliner
Summary: In a world without an Avatar, Suki is the leader of a ragtag resistance force in the post-comet wasteland. Her monochrome life consists solely of death, detachment and loss as she tries to protect those she loves... until she meets a circus girl who illuminates it with spirit. But when the enemy captures them, their vibrant love is threatened by old wounds and new feelings.
1. Time Running Out

_AN: This fic was a challenge for me to write, but I've wanted to write it for a really long time. I think way more in pictures than words, and so it's strange for me to figure out how to describe the images how I see them. I've had these scenes and pictures rattling around in my head since May, when I wrote a oneshot that was a less successful attempt to write them down._

 _Anyway, I now have a conflict, some plot, and a couple chapters written since I know I'm going back to school in a few days. As for pairings, I have no idea what is endgame at this point, but for the foreseeable future, it's Suki, Azula, Ty Lee and all permutations thereof._

 _The only warnings are for violence, themes of war, implied torture, and yuri lemons._

* * *

 **The Color of Your Dreams  
**

* * *

 _ **Chapter I  
Time Running Out**_

* * *

Suki meets the love of her life in the barricades of a dying fortress.

She never got used to choking on ash, or looking at the orange that still burns around her even when her rebels win the battle. This is her life now, however, and she knows that she has no choice but to embrace the heat of fire on her cheeks, and to live nomadically.

Her militia collects people as it moves through the Earth Kingdom, through the ashen land that was ravaged by Sozin's Comet a few years ago. People are always willing to join, and while Suki is happy to train them, it bothers something deep within her. Handing weapons to kids makes it difficult for her to sleep at night, she supposes.

Or maybe it is the bodies. Maybe it is because when she walks through these raided fortresses, she does not feel much like celebrating pushing enemy forces back. She just sees the friends she loses every few months. Most of them are new, some of them are closer. All of them are dead.

It kills Suki sometimes, seeing people die because of her orders.

 _But it isn't you who ordered this war,_ every single person reminds her _, We're fighting what our ancestors started. None of us wanted this._

She is looking for death when she makes these rounds, but, this time, she finds life. Maybe that is why she falls in love with Ty Lee. Maybe it has nothing to do with anything but the fact that Suki sees someone opening their eyes, sees them breathing, instead of Suki closing their eyes, and feeling for a pulse that is not there.

Suki has yet to see someone close among the endless corpses, and she is now in a stretch that is only Fire Nation. But then her stomach twists when she reaches the dead who are not in the prim but bloodied uniforms. Some of them are just little kids, and Suki expends extra energy checking on them.

The leader of the Kyoshi Rebels has low expectations, until she sees the young woman she touches jolt to life, as if Suki's touch were electric. The teenage girl is a little younger than Suki perhaps, but definitely into womanhood, and Suki is looking for words when the Fire Nation girl's hand seizes Suki's arm and pulls her onto her knees.

Suki reaches for her fan but hesitates, giving the Fire Nation girl a chance.

"I..." She does not die, but she has no will to continue, as her beautiful, _alive,_ such _alive_ eyes drift to the bleeding wound her other hand is pressed tightly against. Suki swallows as she sees that she is holding her insides in.

"Come here. I have healers who can help you. Waterbenders," Suki says earnestly and the Fire Nation girl's lips part, as if she wants to object, but does not have the energy.

Suki takes the Fire Nation girl very easily into her arms, but nearly drops her when she hears the squeal of pain when she accidentally bumps the injury. But Suki clenches her jaw and starts walking, passing the other smoking walls and dead bodies. She needs to save at least _one_ , just this _one_.

Her make-up is melting and flaking, and she tries to resist how itchy it suddenly is as her hands become occupied by her quickly dying rescue. Suki reaches the command tent set up in the middle of the fortress, with Shen, Lai and Song inside discussing strategy while the other several units have broken apart into the usual routine of post-battle clean-up.

Well, the routine after _winning_ is much less usual than the routine after _losing_.

All three women with varying states of weathered make-up and bandaged skin look up with wide eyes as their Commander suddenly comes in holding a _body_.

"She's alive," Suki says fiercely and Shen scuttles over to help her. The map the trio has been drawing is immediately rolled up as Shen and Suki lay the Fire Nation girl out on the table.

"She's Fire Nation," Lai replies derisively.

"She's alive," Suki repeats, and no one would dare to protest, because their leader values things like that.

The Fire Nation girl is less wounded than Suki feared, and the Kyoshi Rebel leader slowly can breathe more easily as the healing comes to an end and the girl closes her eyes to rest. Suki's three lieutenants wait for her, but the night is getting late, and there are celebrations being held by the forces, so they postpone the scouting of this fortress until tomorrow.

Suki sits with her fingers on her chin, taking slow deep breaths. The Fire Nation girl is peacefully unconscious, but Suki will not remove her eyes until she knows that this one life pulled through.

Slowly, before sunrise and just as Suki is becoming tired, the Fire Nation girl opens her eyes, and they are just as alive as Suki remembered them. They are dark and glittery and stunning. And then they are afraid, before calm and complacent.

"My name is Suki, and I'm with the Kyoshi Rebels. We took this fortress, and you are the only survivor." Well, Suki's tone is her most professional, but it is probably the best she could have used.

The Fire Nation girl is silent for a minute, pouting her lips. Suki thinks she looks thirsty, and she glances around for water before just grabbing her own pouch and offering it. This would be a picturesque moment for propaganda if anyone were watching; the leader of the only resistance sharing her own water with a Fire Nation citizen.

Suki does see her closest friends watching, and they nod in approval instead of looking in disgust.

That is a good sign.

x

Suki keeps an eye on the girl herself as they begin to set up the fortress. The mistrust for their survivor is very strong, and Suki must admit she shares it. There is no way to tell what kind of background the girl has, since she has not said anything, or even given a name. And so Suki does not let her survivor leave her side.

They go on in relative silence as Suki builds a ramshackle city from ashes and thinks it might be a home that can last. She tries to learn more about her survivor than just her pretty eyes and how she is so meticulous about her hair as she organizes strikes against the Fire Nation supply chains in the area.

The first time the Fire Nation girl says much to Suki other than a quick _thank you_ is on a cloudy day in which Suki has just lost several soldiers in a mission she ordered. Everyone has told her that it was not her fault, and they did not know that the Fire Nation was there in such force, but she cannot help but think that it was.

She is hunting, and it soothes her.

"So," the Fire Nation girl says and Suki nicks her finger on her snare in surprise. "You're really obsessed with saving lives, but you hunt to ease your mind?"

Suki looks up at the girl and sucks in her cheeks. "I... well, I _have_ thought about that... I guess it's... it's justified killing..."

The girl shrugs. "Why isn't killing the Fire Nation justified? They think killing you is."

"You haven't tried to kill me yet," Suki says as she adjusts the trap and slowly stands up. "Which isn't exactly a reason to trust you, so don't push your luck. But it's a little hard to make these choices, when I don't much of a reason other than trying to save the people I love."

Suki has a sudden, vivid memory of people she saw in one town that was a casualty when she and a small group of her raiders were nearly killed and captured in a forest. A mother's corpse protecting her dead child. Fire Nation.

"Do you have family?" asks the Fire Nation girl as she toys with her braid.

"All of these people are my family."

"So, you've got, huh, about a thousand brothers and sisters? Or children?" Neither of them laugh, but it might be a joke. "Obviously you really care about them and that's why you're fighting. Not many people can really say that in this war. I bet that's why people are so willing to follow you."

Suki shrugs. "You talk about me like I'm a cult leader."

"You kinda are. I've been watching you a lot, because I'm really confused about why you helped me. " Maybe she has a point. "You know what your aura is like?"

"My...?" Suki hasn't heard much about mysticism in a pretty long time, except for the homage to the long gone Avatar.

"Like a grey sky. But not a bad way. You're beautiful, even though you really don't seem to want to be." The Fire Nation girl smiles faintly.

Suki has no idea how to reply to that. The survivor returns to her silence, and Suki returns to her snares, still confused. But reassured, all the same. She thinks this Fire Nation girl will be good for her.

x

Two weeks pass before the survivor says anything else, and Suki has had two weeks of decent successes. One person was born and only two died. That's pretty good compared to the usual numbers.

Suki asks the Fire Nation girl a question this time, without really thinking of it. "Do you need soap?" she asks as she enters the tent, before feeling like a fool.

"Not now. If you can even call this gross stuff _soap_. It smells like... _dirt_ not _flowers_." The girl frowns for the first time and then sticks her tongue out in disgust.

"Well, flowers grow in dirt," Suki suggests mockingly and Ty Lee scowls. "What's your name?"

"Ty Lee," answers the girl as she emerges from the bathroom. "And yes, flowers grow in dirt, but I would really rather smell like flowers. And you're Suki, the girl who helps everybody else but just keeps hating herself."

"I don't..." Suki trails off because she knows that Ty Lee is right.

"You can't save everybody. And these people, uh, they're lucky to have you and stuff. You know... I was born in Caldera. That's the Fire Nation capital."

"I know," Suki snaps before realizing how rude she sounded.

"I just got stranded here because I ran away. I was like thirteen and had no idea what I was doing. But I've _never_ been as happy as I've been here."

"This place is..." Suki does not want to sound discouraging when she tries to give people hope and protection, but she cannot call the fortress _happy_.

"My aura has never been pinker. Yours is still the same. I like it." Ty Lee smiles yet again. "I think that the reason you do so good and stuff is because you have... uhh. I'm, hm, don't take this the bad way but... You have all those qualities that make people go to war and commit genocide just because their leader asked. You could be a pretty good Fire Lord."

"That's not a real compliment."

"I'm not done. But, yeah, there are people who were made to lead. Born for that. Everybody just instantly made you leader and have been following you because you're strong, and smart and have a lot of willpower and charisma. And you're really pretty. But you really, really care about these people so much and I think you actually mean everything you say and do."

Suki has no clue what to make of her. She really cannot tell if Ty Lee is smart or not, if she is on one side or the other, if Suki cares about her because she saved her life or because they have a spark together.

"I just wanted to save my warriors and my village. I didn't."

"So you decided to save the whole world instead?" Ty Lee laughs and Suki looks at her feet.

"I'm a warrior, and I know about fans and battles and honor, but it's hard to think about those things when they don't ever seem to be so good. I'm not some royal who can sweet talk people into killing off whole races of people."

"I think the world needs more people who care about fans and battles and honor than people who care about politics."

x

As weeks pass and Ty Lee slowly assimilates into the rebels, although with reluctance about the poor living conditions, Suki cannot quite describe her feelings. But the more she stares at Ty Lee, and the more she takes her on missions, the more she sees the grief and shackles around herself, and the pretty wings that Ty Lee has.

Or maybe Suki is just finally losing her mind from all of the pressure.

Ty Lee is talented at fighting, since everyone in the Fire Nation has mandatory military service, and apparently she has an extensive knowledge of a very rare and ancient art. She and Suki take up practicing together; Suki teaches her the combat of the Kyoshi Warriors, and Ty Lee teaches her about how to take away firebending and paralyze a foe.

More time goes by, they share a first kiss and it tastes like those grey, sweet rainfalls that Ty Lee kept going on and on about. Suki admits to herself that having someone is better than relying on no one.

Ty Lee never talks about her leadership theories again, and she becomes fairly well liked because her talent seems to be assimilating with people. She decides on her war paint once she earns it, and she makes jokes, and uses her fans to keep herself cool in the humid heat.

Suki meets the love of her life in the barricades of a dying fortress.

But while their love brought that fortress to life again, it wasn't enough to keep the Fire Nation away. Especially once Suki's resistance began making real ripples.

Their time starts running out.

x

Azula is in the Earth Kingdom, looking at her plans again and focusing on them instead of her fixation on her home. Instead of what drove her to end up _here_ , in this charred and disgusting place, instead of her palace.

Oh, but she is going back, and she is not going back empty handed.

That is decided, although her father did not want her to take the mission to the Earth Kingdom. Despite her expertise, despite the fact that everyone else failed miserably and Azula is _perfectly_ cut out for the job, and her resume for rule only needs a military feat or two.

Especially since now things have changed.

 _'It was a political move of mine to clear Zuko's name after his... recent actions. He does not have the throne, Azula. He has a chance of getting it and Zuko is not a lucky person.'_

But luck is not good enough for Princess Azula, and she is more than confident in her abilities. She is not going to be killed by a few _rebels_ when she has been trained her entire life for _war_ and the _crown_. Both of which seem to have been pointless exercises in frustration, now that ZuZu is suddenly eligible to watch over more than a _turtleduck_.

The stronghold of the Kyoshi Rebels is troubling the Fire Nation, and so Azula goes to take care of it for blood and glory or something else like that. Or maybe just the adrenaline rush of it. She has been informed to focus solely on the leader of the rebels and to let the other soldiers take care of the rest of the nuisances.

She takes her time. It pays off, because she has plenty of it.

x

Suki, Ty Lee, Shen and a few other of the best are prowling through the half-burnt forest. It is dense, despite the fires, and there are many nests of birds and the sounds of animals. They have gotten a tip about an absolute _dream_.

It is a Fire Nation envoy, carrying messages between two important forts and medical supplies, yet, of course it is guarded by the elite forces. So Suki goes herself, since she is a _good_ leader and therefore is unafraid to do what she asks her people to do.

The ambush starts just with a small sound, and then another, and before Suki can become aware, they are in the trap. A trap that should have been _obvious_ and now she is going to pay for. The first soldiers are strong, but the girls are far from outmatched.

Tides turn with the crash of dry lightning, something none of them have heard before, and then an enemy who is nimble, fast, and whose bending burns unnaturally. Suki pursues her and only Ty Lee remains at her side as they run through the forest, narrowly dodging, trying to fight an incomprehensible and sudden foe.

"Take her bending!" Suki shouts, but Ty Lee is taken by surprise first.

x

Suki is blindfolded and expecting the worst. She keeps her posture straight, her jaw clenched and knows she has always been prepared for this. The risks have always been in the back of her mind, and there is no out right now, with the chains around her wrists, and the knowledge that she needs to understand her situation before she can find a proper way out of it.

Ty Lee, next to her, seems to be pulling all of the stops to escape. It does not sound like it is going well, and she is a very flexible girl.

"Just stop," Suki hisses and Ty Lee's cursing and the gentle slams of her limbs cease. "It's not worth it right now and they'll just use it against you. It's going to be okay and I promise."

They are forced down on their knees, and she can hear the shuffling of soldiers, and the light footsteps of the girl who caught them. The elusive one. The frustrating one who somehow brought them down.

Suki has her blindfold ripped from her, and Ty Lee does too.

"Tell us who you are and where you're taking us," Suki orders and their enemy just looks at her as if she is a cute but weird wild animal. "You're like twelve! How did you...?"

The look becomes much more sour.

Ty Lee whispers, "She's Princess Azula, she's seventeen, defeated us because she is infinitely our greater, and we should probably be really quiet right now and just listen."

Ty Lee does not like this clash of the only two women she has met of their kind. But Suki seems to think defiance is the best way to avoid grisly torture. They _trained for this_ , and acting like _that_ was totally not in the syllabus once.

"Right," Suki replies flatly. She does not move or change her demeanor.

Neither does the princess, who now seems to look a few inches taller and much more severe. "I am addressing you only once because I think it will make our journey much more pleasant and save tedious interruptions later," she purrs in a silky tone and Suki swallows her further remarks. "Seeing as one of you is the most wanted person in the Fire Empire as of now, you are being taken, with all precautions, to Caldera. Your companions that were not killed resisting arrest will be taken elsewhere. Your girlfriend is delightfully useless, but she is a citizen of the Fire Nation whose parents have misplaced her."

Ty Lee looks nervous. Suki is genuinely not. She knows that she will be untouched _at least_ until they get her to Caldera, which is very far away, and if Suki has a say in it, they will not even make it there.

"Why would you even be dumb enough to take us together?" Ty Lee blurts out and Suki cringes.

Princess Azula turns up her palms. "I see no reason not to. As someone I just saw kiss her elbow trying to break free of handcuffs, I am sure you know a thing or two about leverage."

The princess smirks an awful smirk, and Suki sees a _glint_ in Ty Lee's eyes that she has never seen before.


	2. Questions

_**Chapter II**_

 _ **Questions**_

* * *

Suki twists her wrists to test the strength of her handcuffs.

They are a thick, heavy iron that she is unaccustomed to seeing in the wasteland once called the Earth Kingdom. High quality supplies are nigh impossible to come by, including for the Fire Nation's own troops. The Fire Nation Empire never even bothered equipping their soldiers outside of the main hubs of trade, culture and oppression with decent weapons and armor.

The princess and her posse have exquisite weapons to rival any of the major cities and ports. Which crosses off several methods of potential escape that Suki has imagined over the years. All of her foolproof plans hinged on the fact that the Fire Nation's military equipment was falling apart at the hinges. Unfortunately, Suki is important to them, is under constant watch, and is bound in genres of shackles she did not know existed outside of dusty ruins.

A waterfall roars and rages over a rapidly running river, and Suki feels oddly soothed by the sound of angry water. Her captors have set up camp near it, and their bright red flags, tents that sprung up out of nowhere, and crackling fire are all stoking Suki's fire of desire to escape.

She looks for Ty Lee while she tries to figure out handcuffs, but her eyes keep returning to the food and water that the soldiers are sharing... but not with her, of course. They did give her lunch, which is a stretch of generosity, but not exactly deserving of applause when Suki's mind is addled by thirst.

 _Okay, Ty Lee, Ty Lee, and then you just figure out a clean path to the water..._ Suki scans the camp with her astute eyes, blinking away her drooping eyelids whenever she wants to succumb to sleep. It is getting dark out and the warmth of the fire is making her drowsy.

Suki attempts to tune her ears in to more than just the waterfall and camp, to hear the details of conversation, or pick up on anything useful. But all she can think about is how the Kyoshi Rebel camps sound identical to this one, and it is making her increasingly distracted and uncomfortable as she seeks her girlfriend and an escape route.

There. Her head snaps up when she hears Ty Lee; her voice is unmistakable, even when drowned out by the environment. Her voice always sounds so sweet, and Suki can see how her posture mirrors last time she was in enemy hands; when she was first found half dead by Suki.

Ty Lee is, of course, less threatening than most of the warriors when no one knows her skills in combat. She plays up the cute and compliant angle, or at least Suki hopes when she hears Ty Lee's soft laughter in response to the girl guiding her around like a pet that is not quite broken in yet.

For the entirety of the lengthy journey, Princess Azula has been much more focused on Ty Lee than her prize prisoner or her soldiers. In fact, the kid has not taken her eyes off of Suki's girlfriend for a split second since they began their journey to the west.

It is strange and troubling. Suki does not want to think about the possibility that Ty Lee could be... less than trustworthy, but it does not leave her alone as she watches the Fire Nation girl turned rebel sitting, bound, on the other side of camp, trying not to look at Suki.

That makes the prospect of an escape attempt less morally conflicting. Suki does not leave people behind, but right now she knows she cannot afford to be taken another step away from her fortress, her home and those looking to her for protection.

Suki waits.

x

Azula examines the glass of water in her hands, and plays with it. She puts it to her own lips first and gauges the contortion of her guest's face. The princess waits for a sign of _some_ intelligent life in the girl who has only spoken in nervous laughter so far. Now, Princess Azula is an excellent ─ no, _magnificent_ ─ leader, but right now she craves answers to the question of how her friend from many moons ago turned up with the elite of the Kyoshi Rebels. Treason. There would have to be a purpose, a good reason to commit such a crime.

She is in the main command tent of her camp, sitting on a nice red rug, at a table with Ty Lee directly across from her. The camp smells like food that is unappealing to the princess, but she managed to figure out something decent to eat.

And something she currently is nonverbally teasing the prospect of sharing.

"It's our personality, in the Fire Nation," Azula remarks as she sets down the metal cup and runs her finger around the slick rim. Ty Lee's eyes follow it like a nervous fox-deer looking at a hunter. "Nationality. Traditions. Those things are vital and integral to a person's being, and I imagine you must have been pushed to some extreme in order to give it up."

Ty Lee stares back at her wordlessly. Azula narrows her eyes and sees not an act of defiance, but the actions of desperation.

"I didn't have much of a choice," Ty Lee whispers at last. Her voice is hoarse, and after a few moments of contemplation, Azula pushes the cup across the table. Reflexes. Ty Lee's reflexes are certainly in tune because she catches it despite her shaking, bound, ruddy hands. "I'm... I don't mind whatever happens."

Azula uncrosses and recrosses her legs. Ty Lee watches as sips the water, and Azula still feels like a venomous reptile being studied in awe and fear. It is quite a flattering gaze to be under.

Much more flattering than being called _twelve_ by a laughing rebel leader, who can't be much older. Who has probably...

"So, has she slept with you?" Azula asks and Ty Lee makes a slight choking sound in surprise. "I expect an answer."

Ty Lee knits her brow in confusion. "Sort of?"

"Sort of." Azula is not sure if she should laugh or not. She doesn't. "I misunderstand _sort of_ , and I dislike ambiguity when I demand answers. You have or you haven't. I would be quite interested in bringing home the bedmate of the leader of the Kyoshi Rebels."

Now Ty Lee looks even more puzzled, as if this is such a complicated conversation.

"I'm not that. I'm dating her and stuff." Ty Lee squints and wrinkles her nose. Even she knows that it is not the most satisfactory answer. "I think the rebels are all really nice people and they're my friends." Ty Lee's mouth opens in surprise. Now Azula laughs. "No, I'm so fine with..." Ty Lee stammers and then is silent, afraid of saying more and getting herself into a worse mess.

"I think that's cute. I'm going to go check on my much more important prisoner. We will resume our tea later." Azula stands and walks away briskly, still carrying herself with a conscious attention to looking formidable. And not _twelve_.

Azula stands, glances once at the girl she thought dead for years, and strides confidently across the camp. The soldiers nervously fuck up gestures of respect as she walks past them, her eyes darting around the clearing near the waterfall, across the thick charred trees and at last resting on her invaluable prisoner.

Suki twitches once when she notices Azula's piercing golden gaze.

The princess moves deliberately a precisely before grabbing the half filled cup that the Kyoshi Rebel Leader was staring at, nearly knocking the servant girl in scuffed leather armor. She stands above her prisoner and examines her.

"You seem about to faint. Have this," Azula orders with a small smile that is anything but warm. Suki accepts the water, not because she wants to bend to the will of this bitch, but because she has no intentions of dying tonight.

Suki drinks it quickly and eagerly, much to Azula's concealed pleasure. And then her prisoner dares to lock eyes with the heir to the Fire Nation throne. Again. Ozai would kick her face to the ground, but Azula just slowly crosses her arms over her certainly-not-twelve chest.

"You don't watch me very well," Suki rasps and Azula shrugs. "Unless you have me mixed up with my girlfriend ─"

"Who is actually a few weeks younger than myself, so I mean, you are utterly disgusting for calling me twelve..." Azula realizes she has said that aloud and quickly shuts her mouth.

"Unless you have me mixed up with my girlfriend, I think you might have made a mistake. This is your first time out here, isn't it? With your shiny new armor and all of those flags and maps. You may be powerful, and you did beat me in a fight. That's true. But I think you underestimate the people you're trying to subjugate," Suki continues without acknowledging Azula's digression to her petty grudge.

"So poetic. I am inspired by your riveting words." Azula rolls her eyes, and does not realize that the temporary blindness that causes was an awful mistake.

Her prisoner has leapt from her lethargic slumped position and has started to run directly towards the waterfall. Azula leaps after her before anyone notices what she is doing, throwing one hand forward to make the campfire surge bright blue in the dark night. Suki gasps and nearly falls into it, but seizes one of the soldiers by his bulky shoulders, and spins herself around him.

Azula is faster, but Suki has been plotting her route for two hours now, and every step of the way changes her posture to mislead her next step. She desperately, with flailing, ungraceful arms, throws everything she can behind her, and the princess eventually gives up climbing it and begins to incinerate anything in her path. The panicked soldiers are useless, of course, and Suki leaps at the water.

It is not a wise idea. Azula stumbles to a stop before toppling in after her, but she waits with her eyes on the rapid currents as, at last, her "elite" team snaps into action and runs down river.

Suki fights beneath the surface, kicking towards the sharp rocks she saw and hoping to use the water to smash open the metal cuffs on her wrists. That was a a very bad idea, that in theory seemed great. Because she miscalculates her move, and while she does dent the cuffs on the rock, she knocks the winds out of herself, her wrists scream in unbearable pain, and she clutches onto it, now an easy target as she fights back the pain in every inch of her body.

Horrible move. Horrible. But it did, she knows as she close to willingly accepts the arms carrying her back, show just what she can do. For better or for worse.

x

In the commotion, Ty Lee has scampered from the main tent, in which she was being served tea, and watches the chaos that one teenage girl could cause with an escape attempt. The acrobat originally had a longing to follow her lover, but she quickly reconsiders once she sees how poorly it goes for Suki.

She knows that they both should submit to this situation. She knows that resistance is futile against Azula, against these soldiers, against the Fire Lord himself demanding Suki be delivered to him. They fell for the ambush, and Ty Lee has accepted her defeat within a day and night.

Suki is too proud. Suki has to return to the fortress if she is going to continue her work protecting the former Earth Kingdom. But Ty Lee has the extremely selfish desire for Suki to remain alive, even if that means sacrificing so called honor.

Honor does not matter anymore. Or maybe it never did.

x

Suki does not show her agonizing pain, but she does show her emotions once she gains a cellmate in her new, much tighter prison. She is bound to the thick metal holding up the tent, and two soldiers force Ty Lee in across from her.

"They're pretty stupid to put us together," Suki whispers with a forced laugh. It makes her ribs feel like they are being crushed all over again.

They are actually pretty smart to do that. Because Suki will not risk the safety of Ty Lee to try anything again, and the bloodthirsty, cold, loveless Fire Nation bastards are well aware that good people don't want other good people to get hurt.

Suki does not even want bad people to get hurt, even if she is glad to do whatever she must in order to survive.

"You're so hurt. What did you do?" Ty Lee whispers, moving to crawl towards Suki, but one of the guards clamps her hand tightly onto Ty Lee's right shoulder. The Fire Nation girl freezes, and Suki feels that sickening chill of mistrust again.

"I tried to break my handcuffs on a rock and broke my body on it instead."

"You never really had stellar aim." Ty Lee smiles weakly as the guard picks her up by the wrist and moves to bind her across from her girlfriend. "We need to be more careful. And listen and stuff. And just be quiet."

Suki opens her mouth, reconsiders her words, and closes it again. At last, as Ty Lee is tied up again, she has cleared her head enough to find the right words to say.

"How do you know her?" Suki asks and Ty Lee frowns, looking at Suki questioningly. "She knows your birthday, you keep talking about what we're dealing with..."

Ty Lee looks uncomfortable. Suki has never seen her look so uncomfortable, even when it was a hot day and she tried to cool herself off with her fan weapons. And promptly cut herself on the blades inside of it by mistake.

"I told you I was from Caldera, didn't I?" Ty Lee asks sweetly and Suki nods once. Her eyes do not leave Ty Lee, waiting until she has a satisfactory reply. "I went to school with her, is all. We haven't seen each other in a really long time. I barely remember her."

Suki nods again and her gaze drifts down to the itchy grass beneath her.

"Small world," Suki breathes, and then says no more as the sun sets and the moon rises.

x

In the dead of the night, the watch shifts between guards. There are eight of them at once, watching two pubescent girls. It is an interesting scenario, to say the least. Ty Lee is somehow asleep against the pole she is shackled to, but Suki is wide awake, despite her drooping eyelids. She has to stay alert if she is to figure out what to do next.

But that internal focus is made difficult when one of the guards keeps glancing at her. She glares back at him, showing no fear as she analyzes his intentions. They do not seem sadistic or violent, which disturbs Suki more than if they were.

"You're... the leader of the Kyoshi Rebels?" he finally asks and Suki nods halfheartedly. She knows that he knows the answer. He nervously glances at the other guards; none of them seem to care what he is saying. "My daughter... she was with them last I heard of them."

Suki's eyes light up, shocked. "Who-who was she?"

"Haya. She was from a mining town, and her mother was Earth Kingdom," he says slowly, looking so _hopeful_. Suki hates his hope, because she knows exactly who he is talking about.

A mission gone wrong. So much regret.

Suki looks down, dazed and stunned. Haya was a huntress, seeking survival after abandoning her home. Suki ran into her in the Burnt Woods two years ago, and she wanted to join. She was half Earth Kingdom, and driven from her town once it gained new governance; Suki accepted her right away.

Suki knows how to say this, and she hates that fact. "She died a few months ago. I'm sorry."

This isn't supposed to be the way it is. These soldiers, well, of course some of them must have human ties, but putting a face and a name to it is chilling. Watching this man who so gruffly handled her and made awful racist jokes around a fire suffer from the emotions of loss...

Suki does not like it one bit.

x

It takes two days to reach the sea, and Azula is thankfully not burdened with another escape attempt. Her prisoner is too damaged to try anything; the wounds are awful, and Azula feels rather smug about Suki crushing herself on rocks.

She got what she deserved.

Azula never finishes her tea with Ty Lee either.

The ship of the royal procession awaits them at the docks, and Azula can feel the warm relief in her bones.

The former Earth Kingdom is an awful place, and Azula just wants to go home.

While she had chosen to put Ty Lee and Suki together in order to prevent escape, she separates them as soon as she is on the ship. Suki is not going anywhere in the middle of the ocean, and Azula's plans rely on separating them from each other.

Suki is kept in discomfort; Ty Lee is given a passegenger cabin kept locked and guarded. Azula does not see a rift yet about that, but she knows very well that it will come.

Azula looks out at the horizon, and feels a fluttering in her heart when she thinks of the glory that awaits her there.

x

Ty Lee's prison is beautiful. She does not know why she is kept captive in there, but she feels awfully terrible about it. The relative comfort makes her squirm, because she doubts that it is a kind gesture.

She probably was terrible to have slept again. Suki never seems to, and now Suki has been taken somewhere else on this ship. Ty Lee slept more easily than she has in a very long time, because even if she is going off to her death, at least she knows her fate. The waves lull her as she vaguely remembers her excitement about leaving for the circus.

That seems to be a thousand lifetimes ago. Ty Lee imagined coming back one day to start a family. She did not imagine coming back as a war criminal to be tried and likely executed.

Treason. Ty Lee has committed treason and she is pretty certain that traitors do not get comfortable lodgings unless there is an undesirable purpose involved.

In the morning, Ty Lee is served a nice breakfast and it makes her want to throw up. She is told to wait for an interrogation, which both scares her and relieves her. Being treated so nicely without a catch was beginning to get really, really scary.

Ty Lee fidgets as she waits. She knows she is being forced to wait so long in order to _make_ heruncomfortable, because the sense of dread is the worst part. It is really easy for thoughts to spiral out of control when there is nothing but likely torture or maybe worse to look forward to.

What is most uncomfortable about all of this, though, is how _comfortable_ they are trying to make her. She would think that they would try to show her just how brutal they were, just how low they could take her, or make her disoriented. But the _cushy_ room she is in, the clothes lying on the freshly cleaned metal shelves that rock with the waves.

Ty Lee has not touched them, even though they are really cute.

Maybe they want to offer her some kind of deal, turncoat. She is or _was_ a Fire Nation citizen once, and maybe they think that she can be convinced to flip sides and make things easier on them. But Ty Lee was happier with the rebels than she ever was in her entire life, and while, yeah, she loves pretty things and sugary drinks, she is not going to do that.

Ty Lee's aura was never as vibrant, to be honest.

The door does, at last, open after what feels like _forever and ever_.

"Did you sleep well?"'

"Sorta?" Ty Lee wishes she were better prepared for this. They taught her how to be ready for torture, how to be ready for being captured. They didn't teach her how to be ready for _this_.

"Of course."

"I don't know anything."

Azula looks her up and down. "I believe that."

"Where is she? You can't do this. Right?" Ty Lee stammers, hugging her knees. "I mean, you can, but you can't do..."

"You don't even know what I'm going to do," Azula interjects coolly and Ty Lee whimpers in pained assent. "Nothing awful. You two will be held in Caldera."

"Not the Boiling Rock?" Ty Lee blurts out and Azula nods.

"Of course not. She is too important, and I have no reason to send you there unless you give me one." There is no sound but the wind, waves and groans of the ship. "I thought you ran off and joined the circus?"

"I did. Then a comet showed up and my own nation invaded and I got stuck," Ty Lee says. "Then I went and found a decent place to live, and worked as a soldier in ambushes and guerilla stuff for a while. Then my fortress was raided by the rebels. Then I joined them. It's not a really hard story."

"Right." Azula of course believes her. But she does not truly care. "I would love to think of your loyalty as perfectly ambiguous, but you clearly have feelings for that girl."

Ty Lee grimaces.

"I do." She knows Azula has already figured it out and there is no point trying to deny it or play it off as anything else. "Yeah, I really do and I'm not going to let you kill her ever!"

"Well, that's touching. But I think you'll reconsider after you see the options back home. In _our home_."

Ty Lee then feels really queasy. "I still think about you."

"Well, of course. Everyone does. You're not special."

"If I wasn't, you would have killed me with everyone else you ambushed."

"You're not special save for the fact that you are a Fire Nation noble among a bunch of disgusting peasants and thieves."

"Did Mai ever go back?"

"She has been back for quite some time, while you've been playing treasonous soldier. I think she hates politics, but she's good at them."

Ty Lee smiles a little at Mai hating something before she remembers all of her other friends. The people who made her feel like she belonged way more than anybody else in the Fire Nation. But it would be nice to see Mai again.

"I heard about Zuko."

Azula suddenly does not look charming and tempting. Her open expression disappears in an instant, and her eyes harden.

"Of course you did." She tries to pass it off as unimportant, but Ty Lee supposes that the whole Ozai giving Zuko that royal title back probably did not make Azula happy. "Try to stay relaxed today. I am no longer in the mood for an interrogation, but I have no intentions of putting it off forever."

And Princess Azula begins to walk away.

"Are you with anybody?" Ty Lee asks loudly before she feels her face heat up in embarrassment.

Azula hesitates just for a second before exiting the room.

Ty Lee hugs her legs and wishes that this were easier.

Wishes that she were braver. Or that she were smarter. Or that she did not see Azula as her friend still, still see Azula as her first kiss and someone who has always been terrible and amoral, but also probably isn't _that_ awful.

She made friends out of the rebels, right?

Maybe she and Suki can do that with Mai and Azula and Zuko.

Ty Lee smiles in hope of that impossible dream.


	3. Secrets

_**Chapter III  
Secrets**_

* * *

Azula does not have news to return to her father.

She could not interrogate Ty Lee properly because she had a mixed up feeling inside of her that made it difficult to focus. Too curious about the girl who she once cared deeply for—and Princess Azula cares deeply for no one.

Connections to her past complicate things, complicate her path to owning an empire—which is the only thing she cares about anymore—and so she needs to sever them.

At least, that is what she tells herself when she paces in her bedroom. She caught a notorious rebel leader, _the_ rebel leader, in fact, but she is hung up on the old best friend she caught with her. The old… first crush. Azula will never admit it, but those old childhood feelings made her spare Ty Lee. First love never dies, perhaps never even fully fades.

"I'm inviting myself in," interrupts Mai. The door creaks and Mai walks inside, examining Azula the moment her eyes adjust to the dim light of five candles. "So, you wrangled Ty Lee? I missed her."

Azula shrugs. "She's a rebel. I can't forgive her for that just because she used to have playdates with me."

"Yeah. If only they were romantic dates." Mai yawns despite Azula's lethal glare.

"I unfortunately am not as desperate as you and ZuZu. I'm not going to jump on my childhood crush because she shows up here," Azula says coldly and Mai shrugs. "She's a Fire Nation citizen and therefore is entitled to a proper trial. I doubt she'll face much; no one will think she's smart enough to be a real rebel. She can just fabricate some story about a cute boy who hypnotized her with his muscles and so she just did as she was told."

"Have you actually suggested to a prisoner of war that they lie while under oath?" Mai is amused by that, not judgmental. It seems very Azula.

"Not yet. I am intending on talking to her tonight," Azula says honestly. She does not care if Mai knows or not.

The Fire Lady inquires, "Are you allowed to do that?"

"No." Azula shrugs her left shoulder. "But I do as I please. I've earned my position."

"If Zuko gets the crown, which is unlikely, you know you would be some kind of eternal war hero in charge of the entire military. I always thought you would prefer that position. It would also let you indulge in your favorite positions with Ty Lee," Mai picks up Azula's comb and pokes at its teeth.

Azula's nails scrape against her windowsill, causing an uncomfortable screeching sound.

"I can do that as Fire Lord, which would also put me in charge of the entire military. You just want Zuko to be Fire Lord so you can marry him and be Fire Lady forever."

Mai hesitates and then shrugs. "Yeah. I have to be honest. The people would riot if Zuko became Fire Lord instead of you. That is, if you don't have him assassinated first."

"You talk so carelessly about your boy toy," Azula replies.

Mai sets down the comb. "That's a horrible phrase that is also outdated. And I don't care about anybody, including him. If I cared about him, I wouldn't be fucking him."

"I would do better at any career path than he would. Better than my father. Or dead cousin. Or honestly anyone else in my family."

"You have to get back to them about the promotion before you can do anything about your little lady and the rebel chick."

Azula clenches her jaw and then composes herself. Now is not the time for anger. "I intend to. I don't intend to take your advice on the matter."

"Mhm." Mai evidently doesn't believe her.

"Why'd you come here, anyway?" Azula demands, losing her patience at this point.

"To warn you that tomorrow you're going to get the chance of a lifetime with whatsername the rebel leader if you give your answer. If you don't, General Zhao gets to."

"I hate that man."

"Everyone does."

They both do not speak for a few heartbeats.

Azula closes the conversation with, "I appreciate the warning more than your company."

Mai sighs at Azula before slipping away into the shadows of the night.

x

There are two wholly private secret passages in the palace. One tunnel that Azula and Zuko discovered as kids. Nobody seems to even know about it but them. The other is to go over the roof, which requires stealth but is not a challenge for a well-trained soldier.

She opts for the tunnel; it is cold out tonight.

Four hours after Mai's visit, Azula sneaks out of her room and walks confidently through the hallways until she reaches the stone entrance. She silently pushes open the door and then freezes. Of course she comes across her dear brother and Mai in an… intimate position. Mai has him pressed against the wall and his hand is beneath her shirt, against her back. Their lips are straying in a way that makes Azula grimace.

The princess isn't surprised; she makes it her business to know secrets, and Mai and Zuko's affair was not difficult to uncover. She is, however, startled enough to hesitate and force herself to reroute her plans.

Azula, as she steps out and moves to cross the roof instead, realizes she is no better than them. Well, no, she is not married and it is _really_ her choice what she does with her prisoners… but it doesn't take a genius like herself to figure out that seeing Ty Lee would be frowned upon by father and any military officials.

Especially since, thanks to her father, she has no privileges to see either her or Suki until she deals with this ridiculous promotion problem.

 _"Are you with anybody?"_ Ty Lee had asked. That has to be a sign that Ty Lee is interested; Azula's visit has been prompted mostly by that comment.

Azula walks up the stairs and past four doors before unlocking Ty Lee's bedroom and stepping inside. She shuts the door behind her and examines the girl lying on the bed.

"Are you asleep?" Azula demands and Ty Lee sits up, shaking her head. Her hair is removed from its braid and cloaks her body. "Good. I wanted to talk to you about a few things."

Ty Lee smiles warmly in the shadows as Azula sits down at the foot of the bed. So happy to see her, so strange.

"I'm happy to talk," Ty Lee says, and it makes Azula skeptical. She finds it hard to believe that a prisoner of war would be so pleased to see her captor. "What is it, princess?"

"I wanted to give you some advice for your trial," Azula explains calmly. Ty Lee sits up on her knees and leans in to drink in every word. Still disturbing and questionable to the princess. "You have a history of loyalty to the Royal Family. I can put you in contact with your parents, which could help your case. I also would like you to properly lie about being hypnotized into the rebels. If you keep going with the had to survive defense, you sound too clever. I want them to think you are a bubbly, innocent girl who deserves a second chance in her homeland."

"You want me to win?" Ty Lee asks slowly, sounding out every word.

Azula nods.

"Of course I do," Azula purrs. "What are friends for?"

Ty Lee grins and hugs Azula. "Is—are the people I came with okay?"

"Yes," Azula lies. She knows Ty Lee was about to ask about Suki and that makes something strange inside of Azula growl. "I want you to be better than okay."

Ty Lee's eyes glitter in the moonlight as she sits back on her heels.

"You didn't come here just to talk about my trial, did you?" Ty Lee whispers.

Azula thinks for a moment. She does not know if she should be forthcoming about sexual intentions. If her crush was unrequited or not has always been in the back of her mind.

"No. I didn't," the princess breathes.

Ty Lee's lips are ajar as she stares at Azula's mouth and toys with her hair.

This is too easy. The fact Ty Lee is begging to sleep with her within minutes is probably a sign of deception, but Azula trusts herself.

She would not fall for such a petty game.

Azula takes the initiative. Of course she does; Ty Lee must just be too scared to do it. She _gently_ – and gently is rare for her – takes Ty Lee's hand and sets it against her collarbone. Azula would do it lower if she was that kind of person, but she is a respected woman who has no need to bluntly tempt a girl.

Ty Lee is more hesitant than the princess expected her to be, but Ty Lee does lean in and kiss Azula on the lips. It is not the first one they ever shared, but _oh_ it is _good_ this time. It makes Ty Lee shiver, makes even the icy fire princess tremble.

Just a kiss. That is all it takes to light both of them on fire.

Ty Lee is the one who steals another. Azula breathlessly takes five more.

She pushes Ty Lee down onto her back with her knee. Her nails scrape against the inside of her dear old friend's thigh, sending a feverish shiver through Ty Lee's spine. Azula had her pinned and Ty Lee arched her back to help her take off the nightgown given to her by some all-too-kind jailers.

Azula's touch is passionate, her lips craving. Ty Lee feels like the center of the world, and she does not think anything could ever bring her down from that thrilling high. She bites Azula's lower lip and then quickly regrets it before Azula sucks on hers and she realizes that, yes, this is real, and, yes, Azula wants her bad.

Who wouldn't want Azula to want them like this?

Ty Lee wraps her legs around Azula's waist. She rubs her back, pulling up her shirt slowly, sometimes letting it fall because she is still uncertain about this. Azula whips it off after moments of frustration.

She brushes her lips against Ty Lee's neck before whispering, "Did you ever do this with her?"

Ty Lee pulls away. Azula was not expecting that; her eyes flicker and flare.

"I…" Ty Lee feels like she has betrayed Suki enough without doing _this_.

The woman who saved Ty Lee's life is probably locked in some prison, and Ty Lee is lounging in luxury with her old best friend pushing her to the verge of orgasm. It's fucked up.

Ty Lee pulls away despite Azula's grip on her wrist. Azula pulls her back and into a kiss that Ty Lee breaks instantly.

The acrobat pulls away one last time and Azula stands, grabbing her shirt.

"Fine. I see you're in _love_ then."

She puts her shirt back on and leaves Ty Lee in the darkness.

Azula knows her answer for the War Minister.

x

 _Suki is out hunting when she sees Ty Lee swimming. It is an accident, even though she knows Ty Lee always goes for a long swim in the morning. Ty Lee likes staying strong and is not a fan of the showers the rebels offer._

 _She returns her bow to her back and tries to creep away because she feels like a creep for looking at how Ty Lee looks like a Water Tribe mermaid that there are silly myths about. Her hair drifts in the current, over her shimmering back._

 _Ty Lee begins to pull herself out of the water and Suki chokes. She steps back and trips over her own snare as Ty Lee wrings out her hair._

 _"Are you okay?" Ty Lee asks loudly and Suki nods several times. "Just let me get dressed and I'll help with that."_

 _Suki blushes bright red._

x

Suki stirs in her sleep in a prison cell that is the opposite of her girlfriend's. She hears footsteps that rouse her from her deep, deep slumber.

"It is so nice to meet you. We should get to know each other," says that awful girl the moment Suki comes to.

She feels groggy and her face hurts. Then she realizes that she has been unconscious on a hard, dirty stone floor. The dreadful princess has one hand wrapped around the bars that contain the rebel leader.

"I'd rather not," Suki says, rubbing her face. She sits up straight and looks Azula right in the eyes. They are… so gold.

"Oh, come on. Aren't you curious about me?"

"Actually, no. I don't care about you even slightly, although I bet that comes as a shock to such a narcissist," Suki snaps and Azula does not bother with being offended.

"It does. Do you remember the Sozin City Massacre two years ago?"

"We killed forty Fire Nation colonists and soldiers. Mostly soldiers, though. A few… kids and people got… hurt too. But we liberated the city."

"Right, right. The ends justify the means. Well, if you don't talk we have an event in mind that you might be interested in."

"What?" Suki shakes her head, uninterested in the _event_.

"Well, we're planning on executing eighty of your people. Openly. Is publicly the right word? I'm uncertain. It won't happen if you're forthcoming about whatever we ask. And I'm going to ask you a few questions right now as a little primer," Azula says and Suki wants to disbelieve her. But she is most likely telling the truth; Suki knows the Fire Nation well enough to know that.

"What are you planning on asking?" Suki demands and Azula thinks for a moment.

"Do you mind if I take your girlfriend?" Azula inquires and Suki closes her eyes for a brief second.

"I doubt that's what you're supposed to be asking," Suki snarls snidely.

Azula shakes her head. "I'm in charge of this operation. I ask whatever I please."

 _And a fair method of coercion is the exertion of power through theft of dignity,_ Azula justifies.

"If that means she doesn't get hurt, then, no, I don't mind," Suki assuredly responds.

"How very noble of you. Now on to the real questions…"


	4. A Paper Hero

_AN: Sorry for the long, long wait. Writing takes me a long time and I had so much school stuff going on. Now it's summer and I graduated from high school (yikes) and I have the free time to put into writing this story and others too. Thank you for your patience!_

* * *

 ** _Chapter IV  
A Paper Hero_**

* * *

"We just don't torture people like we used to. It's sad," Azula remarks as she removes her hands from a washbasin.

Mai looks her up and down. Azula has just finished talking to that Kyoshi girl, and she seems rattled by it. Her nervousness is not on a level that most people would notice, but Mai knows her too well to miss it.

"Disappointing, I know," Mai replies. She does not care who is tortured, who is freed or who is a traitor; she cares exclusively about herself and it has treated her well over the years.

"Speaking of which," Azula says, turning to her stepmother. Mai already knows she is about to become an accomplice yet again. "Will you do me a favor?"

"Since you are not asking and that is simply a veiled order; yes, I will," Mai says and Azula smirks. Mai was not joking, but she will let the princess think that.

"It requires your little boyfriend."

"I'm not torturing Zuko."

"I thought you agreed?" Azula's eyes glitter with pure malice before she laughs. "No, that's not what I am asking. I am asking you to convince Zuko to do me a favor."

"You think I can do that? He's not _that_ stupid."

"You severely overestimate my brother's wisdom."

"What do you need him to do, princess?" Mai uses the title naturally, even if she now outranks her best friend. She was never on the same level as Azula for the entirety of her life and their lifelong friendship, and so she never stops slipping up and forgetting her higher place as Fire Lady.

"I need him to torture Ty Lee."

"Why him?"

"Because I am going to rescue her from the torture. If I asked _you_ to do it, I doubt you really _could_ , and her friendship with you would make the situation complicated. I cannot ask any of my other underlings to do it because they cannot know my plans. I cannot ask my father or his council for… permission, and so Zuko seems to be the logical choice. Ty Lee has no attachment to him, and he cannot afford to openly question me or show the capacity to betray someone."

"That's brilliant. May I ask why you feel the need to torture and then rescue Ty Lee?"

"I need her devoted to me again. She has too many feelings for that rebel whore. In order to reclaim my rightful crown, I need to take risks and make bold moves. She is useful to me."

"I'll try to convince him."

"You _will_ convince him. I won't accept _trying_."

x

Mai says to Zuko, "I need you to do something for me. It's to help you get your crown back."

"I have it back… mostly," he argues, furrowing his brow.

" _Mostly_. Azula is too weak to interrogate her prisoner. She has feelings for her or something. I need you to do it for her, and prove yourself. At least prove yourself to be better than her," Mai lies. It comes out so easily that she could do it in her sleep. Zuko believes every single word she says because her clothes are half-off.

"I've never tortured someone before. It sounds unpleasant."

"Unpleasant if you're the one being tortured," Mai says. She reaches for his muscular arm and he pulls away.

"You think it'll…?" Zuko does not dare to ask. He does not want to hear _no_.

"Yes," Mai says and he walks back to her.

She feels kind of like she is reeling in a fish.

x

Zuko's palms sweat as he walks into the cell. He sees the two promised assistants and the tools of torture. When he turns to his left, he sees a beautiful young woman strapped to a metal slab. Zuko takes a deep breath; he does not want to do this.

"Hi," Zuko says. That does not come out right. This is for his _crown_ ; he ought to do it right. "You've made friends with the rebels, haven't you? You were always friendly."

Is that taunting? Zuko is not sure if that is taunting or not.

"Why are you going to hurt me?" Ty Lee asks, batting her eyelashes. She has one way to escape this, and it is the only way she knows.

Zuko looks away from her kitten eyes and tries to figure out what the various instruments are supposed to do. One of the assistants nervously touches his hand.

"We can take care of this. You shouldn't get your hands dirty, your highness. You oversee and control," she explains and Zuko steps away from the weird knife.

"Of course. I knew that," Zuko says, stepping back and allowing the woman to carefully choose a blade. "I am here to ask you some questions."

"This would be so much better over tea, wouldn't it?" Ty Lee suggests, smiling widely at her captor. She hopes this works, oh, she hopes this works. "I'm happy to answer your questions."

Zuko does not know if that is true or not. He knows very little about the captured rebels, because no one involved him in the process or filled him in on the facts. His title means nothing and proving himself seems nigh impossible.

He has to be strong and prove that he has the capacity to rule the world with an iron fist.

"I don't trust you," Zuko says. It makes her expression fall, so he thinks it was the right thing to say.

"What is it you need?" Ty Lee asks quietly. Zuko says nothing.

He looks towards the door, and then pushes his reservations to the back of his mind.

This is what he must do.

x

Azula hears screaming. She thinks she might be just in time.

Quickening her face, she swiftly walks down the dirty stone hallway. She swings the door open and the interrogation session comes to a grinding halt.

Azula smells blood. To her surprise, Zuko does not look nervous or disgusted; he looks like he was born to properly rule an empire. That makes her stomach do backflips – he will _not_ steal her throne. Before Azula can finish her thoughts about Zuko's threat to her reign, she hears her name and turns to see her first crush.

"Zuko," Azula says, "I will take this over from here; I am far more competent. Leave."

He studies her for a moment.

"No. I'm handling this perfectly fine without you, and I outrank you, so when I say _leave_ , you are going to _leave_ ," Zuko says and Azula laughs.

"You are so funny when you act strong," Azula purrs. Ty Lee watches intently with a slack jaw. "Do you have father's permission to do this? Because he doesn't seem to think so."

Zuko's heart jumps into his throat.

"She's not going to break anyway. Have fun." Zuko waves and storms out.

Azula observes his exit, amused.

"You two," Azula says to the assistants, "also leave before I am forced to do terrible things to you."

They waste no time as they flee, leaving Azula and Ty Lee alone together.

Azula walks to her prisoner and examines her injuries. They are not pretty, but her face has been left alone. Princess Azula touches Ty Lee's burnt shoulder and Ty Lee whimpers.

"Don't…" Ty Lee whispers.

"I am not here to hurt you," Azula says softly. She kisses Ty Lee's cheek with perfect timing. "I am here to rescue you."

"Rescue me?" Ty Lee asks, incredulous. It does not seem like something Azula would do.

"Of course. I don't think you deserve this," Azula whispers. She unlatches the restraints hooked to Ty Lee, and then catches her prisoner when she stumbles and comes close to falling on her face. "I think you can get the normal life that you deserve. You were abandoned by your Nation and driven into the arms of terrible people."

"That's it? That's the only reason you want to help me?" Ty Lee asks, steadying herself by holding onto Azula's arm.

"No. It is not. I want you," Azula says and she can see Ty Lee slowly become tangled in her web of beautiful deceit. "So long as I want you, you will be safe."

Ty Lee loves the idea. She loves the idea of the most dangerous person she ever met protecting her from danger, but when she looks into Azula's eyes, she keeps thinking about the girl she has loved for so long. Suki gave her more than Azula could ever give her.

Is Ty Lee really so cowardly that she would take a cozy life over true love?

Is Ty Lee in love with Azula?

The feelings confuse her, but right now she just lets herself sink into the arms of the princess. For now, Ty Lee loves Azula with all of her heart, and she will try to stop worrying about Suki. Suki, who has no one to save her from this nightmare.

Ty Lee feels nauseous.

x

Ty Lee lies in a bath and thinks about the fact that she has accepted Azula's offer. She will be the princess's pet and she will abandon the life she built and friends she made. It makes her head spin. Maybe the hot water is just getting to her.

Azula walks into the room and Ty Lee does not move to hide or quickly get dressed. She does not mind if Azula sees her naked in the stone bathtub. She might even _want_ that.

"How is your captivity treating you?" Azula inquires. She looks icy and regal, and so well-dressed. It terrifies Ty Lee so much that she changes her mind about hiding. Of course, there is no escaping now that Azula has knelt beside the bath.

"It's really nice," Ty Lee squeaks. She _has_ lived in the dirt for what feels like a trillion years; the luxury of the Fire Nation makes her very happy. The price for opulence, however, makes her very sad.

"That's good," Azula says. She sounds so sweet but Ty Lee knows what terror lurks beneath her lovely words. "Would you choose this over your old life? If I were to offer your freedom to go wherever you want, or let you stay here, what would be your decision?"

"Staying here," Ty Lee says hastily. She does not know for certain, but she does know what she has to say to Azula.

"Oh, really?" the princess asks. She clearly does not believe her prisoner.

Ty Lee tries again. "I don't know. I haven't thought about it. Why do you ask?"

"Because you want to be mine, but you also want to be free," Azula whispers, calculatedly caressing Ty Lee's neck. "You can't be both."

Ty Lee kisses Azula on the lips.

"I want to be yours, and nothing more than that," Ty Lee whispers. She loves Suki still, but Suki is dead, and Azula saved Ty Lee from torture, and Ty Lee has to do _something_ to save her skin. The Fire Nation has very little use for her now, and she does not mind the taste of the princess's lips.

Azula kisses Ty Lee on the lips.

She kisses her neck and then kisses her shoulders. Ty Lee takes the initiative to get out of the bath and avoid drowning. It would be a fun way to drown, but she does not plan on dying tonight.

On top of dragon-patterned tiles, Azula slides on top of her and kisses her lips. Her fingers find Ty Lee's breast; it feels so easy to cup within her hand. Her nipples hardens beneath the hot touch. Ty Lee croons soft cries of want that she cannot suppress. She does not think she _wants_ to suppress them.

Azula feels her and learns that Ty Lee likes far more pressure and roughness and pain than she expected. The thought that Azula does not know Ty Lee anymore crosses her mind, but the sound of her prisoner moaning makes her forget.

Princess Azula does not need to _know_ who she is pulling towards her, urging towards her core.

She does not need to know anything about Ty Lee to have a thrilling night.

x

 _Ty Lee sees the most beautiful flowers she has ever seen._

 _They are a few miles away from a town devastated by war. Bodies were stacked in the streets and the Kyoshi Rebels tried to give them a proper burial. They had to burn them all instead. But when Ty Lee walks away to get some air, she stumbles across a stunning array of flowers in a clearing._

 _The trees near them are burnt to a crisp, but they all live and remain._

 _Ty Lee walks into the center and sits down. The tallest ones rise above her head. She breathes them in and pretends she is in a world away from the war._

 _A hand rests on her shoulder and Ty Lee jumps, ready to fight._

 _It is Suki._

 _"_ _It's beautiful, right?" Suki asks, sitting down beside Ty Lee._

 _"_ _Really beautiful," Ty Lee says._

 _"_ _You're really beautiful," Suki says and Ty Lee laughs. She is still giggling when Suki kisses her._

 _Their romance is so ridiculous and silly and it really is not meant to be._

 _They kiss again and again._

x

Suki wakes up in a cell.

Ty Lee wakes up next to a tyrant.


	5. First Star I See Tonight

**_Chapter V  
First Star I See Tonight_**

* * *

Azula makes the candles glow blue.

She twists her fingers until they flash, dead and alive, dead and alive, dead and alive.

They burn now, illuminating the room with cerulean.

Then she snuffs them out and turns around to face the girl slowly sitting up in her bed. Ty Lee looks troubled, which is unsurprising. The entire torture incident was not pretty for anyone.

"You were with the rebels," Azula says as she strides to Ty Lee. The candles burn orange and the cooling room makes Ty Lee faintly shiver. "I can help you, of course, because you were my best friend and…"

"More than that now," Ty Lee replies quietly, which makes Azula close her eyes and nod. "I'm kinda overwhelmed. Is it normal that I'm overwhelmed? I'm really overwhelmed."

Azula smiles at Ty Lee, which scares her. The princess tries to look comforting, but it is the most discomfiting thing she has ever seen. Azula has never tried to make her feel welcome, safe or cared how she felt in the first place.

Ty Lee doubts the sex was good enough to merit a smile like that.

She does not know who to trust or what to do anymore.

x

Suki can only imagine what these people are doing to Ty Lee.

She thinks about any other living Kyoshi Warriors, any who have not died by now. Suki needs to save them. They are _her_ responsibility, and she cannot sit idly in this cage and let them die. She cannot let Ty Lee face a fate worse than death—playing along with the affections of Princess Azula.

As she leans against the wall and studies the rotations of the guards, she thinks of nothing but her own heartbeat and her escape. It begins to race as she prepares for her attempted escape.

She is too valuable of a prisoner for them to kill over trying to run, but that might be a bad thing.

 _Thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump._

x

 _Suki lies with Ty Lee._

 _They have not had sex, and they probably will not for a long time. Still, tonight they admittedly made out in Suki's tent while they were alone. Suki's fingers traced her skin and Ty Lee removed her shirt. It took Suki's breath away and made her heart pound so loud she imagined Ty Lee could hear it._

 _Their lips kissed places that were unexplored, but they stopped before it got too far._

 _Still, Ty Lee slept over. Why would she not?_

 _Suki lied with her; Ty Lee lied with Suki._

 _They could hear each other's heartbeats as they rested on each other's bodies._

x

After an eternity, Suki approaches the guard who seems to be the rookie. He struggles with the job, and Suki does not know why anyone let him be in charge of an invaluable prisoner of war. She is not complaining, of course.

Suki stands up.

"Can you come here? I really need water," Suki says, batting her eyelashes. She has never tried to seduce anyone—mostly she just fights them or heals them—but she thinks this young guy might fall for it.

He does. "I'll get you some. I don't want you to die of thirst or anything."

When he returns, he brings it to her cell. When he hands it to her through the bars, she grabs his wrist and slams him against the bars. Suki tries to keep it is quiet as she can as she hits his against the metal twice more and knocks him out. She kneels and picks up the keys on his belt.

Suki stands, reaches through the bars, and unlocks her cell.

She does not know where to go from here.

All she can do is sneak away from this dungeon and find somewhere safe to formulate a plan.

x

That same night, "Can I come with you?" Mai asks Zuko.

He is getting ready to go meet the leader of the Kyoshi Rebels. Ozai does not trust Azula's judgment in this situation, probably for good reason. Zuko is the remedy to all things Azula in countless ways; their relationship is possibly the most impressive rivalry of all time.

Ozai also does not trust Zuko. Mai is supposed to accompany him because the prisoner is allegedly very attractive.

"Why?" Zuko asks, leaning against the door.

"Because your dad thinks she's going to charm you into freeing her or something," Mai says, looking him up and down. She hates how critical her view is, but she hates what she is critical of too.

"I've never done that. I'm seriously not on anyone's side but my father's," Zuko says, his nostrils flaring. Everyone has accused him of siding with Iroh, which he did when the crown was not offered to him. Now he has dedicated himself to his father's side.

Mai says, as everyone does, "You weren't for a while."

"I was banished for a while," growls Zuko, stunned at her words. He thought she loved him. "Now I'm happily home and I can handle a prisoner by myself."

"Not Ty Lee." Mai crosses her arms.

"No, because Azula commandeered the situation. Oh, and about that, _she_ is the one who is getting charmed into freeing a prisoner. Ty Lee is…" Zuko does think that through. "Okay, she's probably not smart enough to be rebel administration or whatever they have, but she definitely has killed Fire Nation people and done… other things."

Mai breathes in deeply and sighs loudly. "Can we just get over this? I want to go back to sleep."

Zuko leans in to kiss her and she does not react very quickly. She ends up standing still as he kisses her unmoving lips and then he steps back. He looks hurt, but she has never cared much about that. She just gestures to the door and he opens it.

x

As they walk towards the dungeons, Zuko turns to his sort-of-girlfriend. "You don't like me do you."

"I don't like anyone," dryly replies Mai.

"That's not a very good answer." He turns around and halts his march to prove himself to his father. Mai reluctantly turns to face him. "I'm serious. Do you even feel anything?"

"In general or for you?" Mai sighs. "The answer is same for both of those. I'll let you guess it."

"I think this was going better when I first got home."

"This was more fun when you first got home. Now it's gradually worth less and less of the effort. Can we please get this over with now?"

Zuko wordlessly turns away from her and goes to meet Suki.

He finds an open, empty cell and three unconscious guards.

Mai sighs. "This means we have to find her, doesn't it?"

x

Ty Lee sits bored in Azula's room for a long time. She stands on her head and tries to think, but her thoughts scare her. Ty Lee stands up, then walks on her hands for a while, trying to beat her record. Ty Lee beats it twice before the sun finishes setting.

Azula still is not back, and it is rapidly becoming dark.

Standing and staring out of the window, Ty Lee looks up at the sky.

When she was with the Kyoshi Rebels, people would wish on the first star they saw. Ty Lee does not think the Fire Nation has that same tradition, but she thinks her homeland could use it.

So, Ty Lee decides to wish on this star, but she cannot think of anything.

Every possible wish just feels _wrong_. She does not know what she wants, who she wants or where she wants to be.

Ty Lee knows she does not belong in the Earth Kingdom, but she does not belong in the Fire Nation either. She does not want to be in prison with Suki, but she does not want to be in Azula's bedroom either.

She wonders how far away that star is.

It cannot be that much of a distance.

Maybe she can go live there.

x

It is midnight and as Ty Lee lies in bed, she feels like she has failed.

Failed at something. She does not know what.

Well, she has always been a failure. Everybody knows that. The only person who ever made her think it was anything different than that was Suki, but she does not think she will ever see her true love again.

Anyway, she does really love Azula a lot. Even if Azula is different than Suki in every single way, Azula was Ty Lee's first love and she will never forget that feeling. Ty Lee tries to relive it, but she does not know if it will ever be the same.

"Do you think," Ty Lee asks late at night, "that I was destined to end up here?"

Azula says nothing at first. Ty Lee feels very self-conscious.

"I will not claim to understand destiny. Do you think you were destined to end up stuck in the Earth Kingdom?" Azula asks, which just makes Ty Lee scratch at her suddenly itchy arms.

"Yeah, I guess. I can't think of anything other than that," Ty Lee says, hoping they are not the wrong words, but she feels them so strongly that she must say them.

"Then you were destined to end up here too."

They fall asleep in silence, Ty Lee struggling to do so.

x

Suki kneels on a palace balcony. Her main strategy after making it up the steps of the dungeon was to keep proceeding to the higher and higher floors. She ended up stopping at this perch and hiding to clear her thoughts.

She needs to find Ty Lee.

After that, she is not sure.

From here, she can see a crowded pier, but she does not know if she can make it that far. She also does not know who else is still alive, and she very much wants to get everyone out. Suki is not leaving a single person she cares about in the Fire Nation.

It is even worse than leaving them in a burning building of a deserted village.

It is even worse than leaving them in the maw of a tiger-vulture.

x

Ty Lee feels happy. She kisses Azula's neck and pulls her closer. The lights still dance cerulean, but Azula's eyes are on Ty Lee.

All she ever wanted when she was young and in love was to have the princess look at her the way she does right now: with an insatiable desire and an unending gaze.

Ty Lee kisses her lips. She feels a surge of guilt about Suki, but she knows she is just doing what she has to do, right? Ty Lee is just trying to survive.

She tells herself that, even though when she slips onto Azula's lap and slides off her nightclothes, she feels her heartbeat race. Azula kisses her neck and lower and lower to her breast, swirling her tongue around Ty Lee's hardened nipple.

It makes her moan. Ty Lee blinks away thoughts of Suki.

They were supposed to be each other's first. They promised each other that.

But Ty Lee is long past breaking that promise; this is her third time with Azula.

Azula pushes Ty Lee onto her back and hesitates for a moment to take off her own clothes. Ty Lee gazes up at her with a soft, gentle smile on her lips. Azula slides down and Ty Lee shivers. She presses her lips against Ty Lee's neck and then down lower, each small, fast kiss searing her skin like fire. She rubs her lips together and bites down as the princess slips back up so gracefully.

Ty Lee asks, "You're my first, you know. First love, first kiss, first… this. Am I yours? Because you're really good at this and I'm feeling kind of jealous."

"You're the one with the overprotective girlfriend," Azula whispers in her ear. "The one you betrayed the Fire Nation for. But, no, you're my first kiss and I suppose only infatuation but not my first at this. I appreciate not being alone in my jealousy."

Azula likes that enough to sit back on her haunches and run her burning hot fingertips down Ty Lee's body and to a part of her that makes her legs twitch and her knee jerk.

It is perfect.

Ty Lee weeps.

As she tries to return the favor, a single teardrop falls onto the princess's bare skin. Ty Lee half expects it to sizzle, but she guesses the heat was all in her head.

Azula asks, "Why are you crying?"

"No reason. I'm just…" Ty Lee does not know how to lie, and she does not think anyone can get away with lying to Azula. "I love this. I love this a lot. I love sex with you a lot."

"And so you're crying."

"I'm not supposed to. I'm supposed to be your prisoner and I love Suki and I don't know if I love you anymore and…"

"Just continue," Azula orders in a soft, somewhat comforting voice. "You love it; stop being so self-righteous and finish this."

Ty Lee loves that order, and could not hate herself more for it.

She leans down and kisses Azula's stomach before dipping lower.

Ty Lee thinks she has become a terrible person.

Maybe she was never a good person in the first place.

Suki just made her one.

Azula makes her into a terrible one.

Ty Lee does not know which one she likes more.


End file.
